Yoga Class by Katy Wright – Part 18

Standing – mountain – forward fold

To begin with, step to the front of your mat and stand up straight. Be tall, without tensing up your muscles. Lift up through the crown of your head, sink down through your feet.

Inhale and bring your arms up overhead, then exhale as you swan dive forward, folding from your hips with straight legs and planting your hands wherever they naturally rest when your body tells you it’s time to stop.

We’re going to stay here for a few breaths now, gently teasing out the back of the legs and gently stretching the lower back. You might want to rest your hands on a block or something even higher, if putting your hands on your shins or on the floor isn’t possible.

Take a few small and soft bouncing movements (still with the legs straight, quads engaged), so you feel your hamstrings stretching and contracting – but not so much that you’re in any pain.

Next, we’re going to bend and then almost straighten the knees, repeatedly, so you’re bouncing your hips. Again, giving the hamstrings a signal that there’s more to come.

Wideleg ragdoll

Roll up to a standing position and step your feet out, wider than your hips. Roll back down into a wide forward fold and take hold of your elbows or fold your arms.

Keep your kneecaps lifted, to activate the quads, and let your head hang down, so your neck feels long. Then introduce that same gentle bouncing movement you did before, keeping your legs straight.

And now we’re going to develop that stretch, like before, by repeatedly bending and straightening the legs…

Wideleg twist – RIGHT

Come back to a static position with your legs straight, toes pointing forward. And put your right hand in the centre of your mat, or on a block, just in front of you.

Now bend your right knee as you take your left hand up towards the ceiling – bringing you into a twist. As you do this, your right hip might come forward – try to keep it back, in line with the left hip.

Bring in a bit of movement, lifting and lowering the upper arm as you lightly bounce your body.

Wideleg twist – LEFT

Bring your left arm down and put your hand in the centre of the mat, where your right hand was. Then bend the left knee a little, as you turn your chest (but not your hips!) to the right and lift your arm up to the ceiling.

Then use that dynamic movement to work into the upper back – lifting and lowering the upper arm as your deepen and then lessen the twist.

Bring your right arm back down and stand up, keeping your feet apart, ready for some ‘star toe touches’.

Star toe touches – x 20

Spread your arms out to the sides and then fold forward as your bring your left hand towards your right toes and lift your right arm up. Come back up to centre and then move in the opposite direction, taking your right hand down towards your left toes, so that your left arm ends up pointing to the ceiling.

Lift back to centre and repeat nine times on each side. Exhaling on your way down and into the twist, inhaling on your way back up to the centre.

Remember to keep your hips facing forward – everything from your hips down stays where it is; it’s only your upper body that’s moving as you take the twist.

Standing side bend

Let’s stretch out the sides of the body now. So come to a standing position, feet either together or hip-width apart. Lift both arms overhead and take hold of your left wrist. Inhale in this position and then with the exhale, bend over to your right.

Come up on an inhale and take hold of your right wrist… Dropping your shoulders away from your ears as you exhale. Inhale and lengthen your entire body… And exhale as you bend over to your left.

Inhale back to the centre, let you of your wrist and draw your fingertips towards the sky. Exhale as you fold forward, putting your hands on your legs or the floor – wherever your body tells you to stop (that place might just be a bit lower than it was at the start of the session!)

Forward fold

We’ll take a few breaths here, so bring back that bouncing movement to the pose… Now bend your knees so you can take your hands to the floor and come into a sitting position on your mat.

Seated fold / half dragonfly / janu sirsasana – RIGHT

Next, we’re going to be doing one of many types of seated forward folds you find in yoga. For this one, you start with your legs straight out in front of you. Then you need to bring the sole of the right foot to the inside of the left thigh. When you do this, your chest will turn to your right, so before we go any further, bring your chest round so you’re facing the front your mat, looking over your extended left leg.

You’ll notice, as you do this, that the twisting action has caused the left side of your body feel a bit short and compressed. To address this, come out of the twist slightly as you inhale and lengthen your spine, and on the exhale, draw your lower abdomen in and turn back into the twist. Working like this, we can bring some movement in this pose too.

See if you can take your chest forward a little, whilst keeping your left leg straight, toes drawn up towards your body. Be sure not to round your upper back here – your chest should feel open.

Stay here for a few more breaths, using the inhales to lift out of the pose slightly and bring the left ribcage back, and using the exhales soften back into the posture as you bring your right ribs forward.

And on the next inhale, come back up to centre and stay here a moment while your spine settles.

Seated fold / half dragonfly / janu sirsasana – LEFT

Left side now. So put the sole of the left foot on the inner right thigh, with your shin and left leg at a 90 degree angle.

Inhale here, and then with the exhale, slowly turn your chest to face your right leg, bringing that twisting action into the pose. Work here for a while, in an upright position…

On the next inhale, lift your spine ‘out’ of your hips… Exhale and draw the lower abdomen towards the spine as you move your chest forward – in the direction of your right foot. Again, you can maintain some movement here, as you gently bounce in and out of the twist.

And on the next inhale, slowly come back up to centre and wait for your spine to settle. You might want to stretch both legs out and roll your thighs in a little too.

Tabletop – downward dog – loose forward fold – body circles x 5 each side

Come onto your hands and knees and from there, push back to downward facing dog.

Walk your feet up your mat, so you can come into a loose forward fold, with your arms hanging down.

From this same position, we’re going to do a few ‘body circles’ now. All you need to do is turn to your right so that the left side of your body opens up. Keep lifting your arms and body up until your fingertips are pointing to the sky… And then take your arms down the left side, stretching out your right ribs as you come back to your wideleg ragdoll pose.

Another four on this side…

See if you can co-ordinate your breath with the movement you’re doing. So inhale as you come up and round, and exhale as you move back down and across.

When you reach ragdoll, at the end of the fifth round, change direction.

So this time, inhale as you move to your left and then up… Come over the top, and then back down the right side as you exhale.

Again, inhale to your left… and exhale back down to your right.

Three more in your own time.

And as you come back to the centre, release your arms so you can put your hands down and move into forward fold.

Seated – tabletop (wrist stretches)

Put your hands down and drop onto your knees, so you can come into a kneeling position. Next, we’re going to go through a variety of wrist stretches and strengtheners – these can be really useful to know, as a lot of yoga sequences involve transitions which include downward dog, chaturanga and upward facing dog – all postures that put pressure on the wrists.

Kneeling wrist rolls

For the first set of exercises, we need to be in table top. So come onto your hands and knees, and then bring your shoulders forward, so you feel a stretch across your wrists. Gently move back and forth – just small movements…

Back to centre, so you can turn your hands around, so your fingertips are now facing your knees. Keep your arms straight as take your hips back and then forward again.

Now put the top of your hands on mat, with your fingers still pointing towards your knees, so you can stretch the top side of your wrists. Just hold the posture and use your breath to release any tension.

And then, staying on the tops of your hands, turn your fingertips to face the front of the mat. You can try moving a little, but go slow and stop before you feel any pain.

For the next move, you need to stay on the tops of your hands, but bring your wrists out to the sides, so your fingertips meet each other. Then start moving your shoulders side to side… And then in circles – three times to your right, and three times to your left. Keep your thumbs down throughout.

Come into a kneeling position now and clasp your hands in front of you, rolling them around – a few times in one direction, and then again in the other.

Stop for a moment so you can switch your clasp (changing which thumb is in front)… And then make some waves with your hands and wrists… When you’ve finished, shake out your wrists.

Tabletop wrist push-ups

This next one isn’t easy for everyone, so you might want to leave it out for now, but have a go if you want to – you’ll have two options and one might suit your better than the other.

Come into a table top position, but instead of resting on your palms, make fists and rest on your knuckles, with the tops of your hands facing out to the sides.

Now, as you would if you were doing a push up, take your elbows out to the sides as you lower your chest – and as you do this, open your hands. As you come back up, roll onto your knuckles again.

Another option is to start on the tops of your hands, fingers pointing towards each other. As you lower your chest, keep your hands open, and as you come up, curl your fingers in.

See if you can do a set of ten.

Kneeling wrist curls – shake it out

For our final wrist exercise – and our final posture – you can either be in a kneeling position or a standing position.

Take your arms out in front of you, keeping them straight. Roll your shoulders back and down. Now turn your palms to face the mat and draw your fingers down. From there, try to curl your fingers in – so they’re moving towards you. Pay particular attention to the forefingers.

Stay here for a few breaths and then release and shake out your wrists.

Now you’ve got some tools for keeping your wrists strong and flexible. Hope you enjoyed today’s session. Until next time!